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Think your teen won’t get diabetes? Think again…

What would you do, if your teenage child or grandchild had prediabetes–with a strong chance of developing diabetes within the next 10 years? 

Not likely, you think–but you are wrong.  According to a brand new JAMA Pediatrics study, there is a greater than 1 in 4 chance that your teen has prediabetes.  This is up even more from a recent study showing 1 in 5 at risk–and more than twice as high as 20 years ago.  

What really took my breath away is that 1 in 4 white teens and 1 in 4 teens from higher-income families and 1 in 4 normal weight teens have prediabetes! People have been assuming that those kids are unlikely to develop Type 2 diabetes early in life... 


Well, you can toss that stereotype out the window now.  


If your teen has been inactive and had poor nutrition for years, you should perhaps consider checking their blood sugar level–and take action now to get them moving and eating & drinking healthier. Since research shows that kids are unlikely to change their habits in adulthood, their future health depends heavily on patterns from childhood.


And as we have pointed out for years: the easiest & most-effective way to have healthy habits in adolescence & adulthood is to start preK & in elementary schools.

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